Sunday Shows Recap

In case you sleep later than I do on Sunday mornings, here are some thoughts on this morning's political talk shows:

"This Week with George Stephanopoulous" (ABC) featured Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Rick Santorum (R-PA), both just back from Rome, as well as Eliot Spitzer, the Attorney General of New York and the presumptive Democratic gubernatorial nominee for 2006. Dodd and Santorum spoke about the war over judges, Tom DeLay's trials and tribulations, and the John Bolton nomination.

Santorum called on DeLay to "come forward and lay out what he did and why he did it," but said that "from everything I've heard, again, from the comments and responding to those, is everything he's done was according to the law". To date, he said, DeLay's ability to lead "has not been compromised". Maybe not, but how long are we going to wait?

Dodd offered some excellent advice to Republicans about DeLay, giving what may have been an unintentional sneak peek into the Democrats' '06 election strategy. "Be careful about how closely you embrace Mr. DeLay," Dodd said, warning that the more the Republicans clung to him, the easier it will be to paint him as the ultimate bogeyman (see Newt Gingrich, circa 1998). As they do with most good advice, Republicans will undoubtedly ignore Dodd's [as evidence, I recommend today's Mike Allen piece in the Washington Post, which announces a $200 a plate 'tribute dinner' for DeLay on May 12 sponsored by conservative groups].

Asked about recent charges against John Bolton, the president's mind-numbingly inept nominee for the UN ambassadorship, Sen. Santorum said that he was "not familiar with the details". Clearly he's not spent enough time reading the news. Steve Clemons has provided much information on the atmosphere at the State Department when Bolton worked there, including evidence that he threatened to fire intelligence analysts who refused to subscribe to Bolton's views about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs. After admitting that he's "not familiar" with those details, Santorum went on to say that he "strongly supports" Bolton's confirmation. "I think he's the right man for the UN," Santorum concluded. Dodd stated that he feels "the nomination has some real problems" and that he will not vote to confirm Bolton.

"Meet the Press" (NBC). Tim Russert hosted Senators Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Their topic of discussion was the recently-released report of the Robb-Silberman report on the intelligence that led to the Iraq war.

Rockefeller, shown the quote from Bob Woodward's Plan of Attack in which George Tenet tells President Bush that the case against Iraq was a "slam dunk" and asked how we got from that to the WMD Commission's conclusion that the intel was "dead wrong" summed it up quite well: "'Slam dunk' was part of what got us to 'dead wrong'". The larger issue, Rockefeller said, was that there is no 'vacuum' between the intelligence analysts in the CIA and other agencies and the policymakers in the executive branch.

Roberts took a reasonably hard line, saying that the intelligence failures were the result of a "groupthink" mentality, an "assumption train". He widened the blame though, remarking that intelligence agencies from around the world (including, he noted, the French) also had concluded that Saddam was continuing his WMD programs, even though it is quite clear now that they weren't.

The chairman got a little testy when Russert (and Rockefeller) started grilling him on why the Intelligence Committee has not completed a report on the use of intelligence (bad or not) by the Bush Administration in the months leading up to the Iraq war, and whether the Administration improperly pressured intelligence analysts to reach pre-determined conclusions. Roberts promised last July that this study was "priority number one", and yet it continues to languish. Clearly becoming agitated, Roberts pledged once again "this will get done," while naming off all the other "big issues" that the Intelligence Committee is currently dealing with.

Rockefeller brought up the Bolton nomination in the process of answering a question about pressuring intelligence analysts. "John Bolton and others clearly tried to exert pressure," Rockefeller said, adding that he will "absolutely" vote against Bolton if his nomination reaches the floor. Oddly, Russert barely pursued this question (and did not ask Roberts his thoughts on the subject).

"Face the Nation" (CBS) had as headline guests Senators Harry Reid (D-NV), the Minority Leader, and John McCain (R-AZ), unfortunately in separate interviews.

The interview with Reid focused squarely and nearly exclusively on the question of what happens if Frist & Co. unleash the "nuclear option" on the Senate in the near future. Reid tried to steer the question back in an attempt to argue against the use of the option, noting that the Democrats have allowed 204 (205 as of tomorrow apparently) of Bush's judicial nominees to come up for a vote, only blocking 10 of the most controversial and extremist. "The majority wants to get everything they want," Reid said, and "when they don't get what they want, they change the rules." He cited DeLay's recent excesses as an example of this.

Reid went out of his way (and wisely) to make clear his view that the calls for the nuclear option are "not the representation of mainstream Republicans". "People of good will," he noted, mentioning "John McCain and others", "are going to have to decide if they're going to follow this radical procedure." Aside from his attempt to dodge the question of how far the Democrats would go in "slowing down the Senate" should the nuclear option be deployed, Reid made his case fairly well.

McCain, via satellite from Cottonwood, AZ, wasn't on his game today. He started off fine, saying that he is "still hoping we can sit down and work out" the issue of judicial nominations, calling it "a symptom of the fierce and almost bitter partisanship that exists in Washington today." We have important issues to deal with, he said, and yet we're arguing about ten judges.

When Schieffer asked whether McCain would support the nuclear option if it comes up for a vote, McCain repeated the line he's been using for several months, that he "will listen to his leadership" and then make a decision. He said that he believes that Bush's judges should be confirmed, noting that "elections have consequences" [apparently including the choice of any judge the president wants], but then proceeded to lay out as good a case against the nuclear option as any I've heard. "The Senate has traditionally protected the rights of the minority," McCain said, adding that there were real concerns about a slippery slope here [breaking filibusters against cabinet nominees, or against legislation in the future], and that the nuclear option would reall "change the environment" of the Senate. He concluded by reminding himself "someday, history shows, we won't always be in the majority." To me, there's not a much better case than that!

I was disappointed that McCain refused to say he'll vote againt the nuclear option, but I was even more disappointed that he missed an opportunity to criticize Tom DeLay. While I was fairly certain that he was going to give the answer he did, a part of me was holding out hope for a good savaging. Asked what should happen to the Majority Leader, McCain deflected by saying "that's a judgment for the Republicans in the House" to make, adding "they'll have to decide if he's a liability".

While I disagree with McCain on his support for Bush's Social Security plans (he even has joined the president on a couple of Bamboozlepalooza stops), I did support his main point when asked about the Social Security debate. "We ought to sit down and work this out," he said, speaking of Democrats and Republicans and citing the 1983 agreement between President Reagan and Tip O'Neil. Absolutely right, and if it means that Bush needs to take private accounts off the table for the moment, so be it.

I missed "Fox News Sunday" today since it airs at the same time as "This Week" - guests there were Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the new Prime Minister of Iraq, and Senators John Cornyn and Chuck Schumer. I'll hunt up a transcript in case anything interesting was said. I've got "Late Edition" (CNN) on now, and if there are any good quotes I'll update.